What are ghostwriters?

Ghostwriters are people who present someone else's message under the other person's name. For example, Jane writes a book, but the cover and title page say, "by George."

This takes special skills on the part of the writer and openness on the part of the client. The writer needs to be good at getting information and at deeply understanding someone else's intent. She must keep all interactions with the client confidential. She also needs to have a good ear for the other person's "voice."

The writing should sound like it came from the mouth of the client...

...only better!

Ghost writing is more common than you might think. Political speeches, books by celebrities, and corporate training manuals are all every-day examples of this practice.

The people who choose a ghostwriter generally want to save time or are uncertain of their own writing abilities.

Ghostwriting is costly. Most self-publishers would be better served by an educative edit.